Plague and Reapers
by Reddragonflyer
Summary: Humanity developed a thousand years eariler but never left Earth due to a Plague. Saren wasn't stopped and now a group of Surviors from both the Council races and Humanity must work together to prevent the next cycle. Mass Effect AU. Featuring a lot of OCs
1. Chapter 1: Plague and the Reaper

**Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect but all original content is mine.**

 **This is my first fanfic so please be nice, but also let me know what you think :)**

 _Chapter 1: Plague and the Reaper_

Earth Standard Date: 4th March 2059/Citadel Standard Date: 1183

Earth:

Alarm rang throughout the subterranean base as several soldiers ran down the long corridors that run right to the surface access elevator. Stopping 25 meters from the elevator doors, the soldiers set themselves up in defensive positions as they primed their assault rifles and submachine guns. 30 meters behind them a set of thick steel door closed behind them. The soldiers were all wearing power armour which was completely sealed from the outside world, mainly to prevent infection. Supplementing their rank were several mechs with assault rifles all of which were controlled by the base's AI. The Mechs were slightly smaller than the average person; they are designed to be as strong as the average human. The base itself was dimly lit, walls were nothing more the white concrete with the occasional sign painted on them, cables and pipes ran along the top of the ceiling. The air was dry and warm. The floor was a thick steel mesh over what resembled an open drainage pipe which was bone dry. Along with the alarms ringing the noise of; the air ventilation, muffled movement of equipment in the distance, the soldiers shuffling and priming their weapons could be heard. Then as the main elevator opened, the soldiers and mechs opened fire at the disease ridden people that charged out of the elevator. To call them people was now incorrect; they had been lost to the disease that was devastating the surface. The infected still resembled people, except their skin was now greyish-white and covered in large tumorous boils, which on occasion leaked black liquid. Their eyes were completely black and they released horrifying shrieks. Bullets streamed across the hallway into the crowd of infected and about a minute later the last infected died. The Soldiers and Mechs remained on alert as three Mechs with flamethrower began to cleanse the hallway in front of the main group with fire. The infected bodies crackled under the white hot flames. If it weren't for the Soldier's power armour then they'd cook. As the Mechs burned the area in front of them to the 5x5 meter elevator, the lead Solider walked a meter away from the fire and main group; finally coming to a stop he placed his right against the com unit inside his helmet.

"Aaron, how the hell did they manage to get down the access elevator?" He said in rather concerned and annoyed voice.

"It appears the infection is much smarter than we thought, Dave. Amanda has ordered that once you and your squad has passed through decon, you're to get to your stasis pod." The AI replied in a British accent and unconcerned tone.

"Roger that" Dave simply replied as he turned to the rest of the squad, coming to a halt in front of them, all eye were now on him. "Well since how we've had a breach, the plan has moved forward. If we get through decon with a green light then head strait to your stasis pod."

The group gave him a nod has the head back to the steel door. The steel door moved to the right into the wall and then closed behind them once the soldiers and mechs were inside.

"Decontamination in progress" Aaron announced as they were all sprayed with super anti-septic gas, and liquid. The liquid drained though the floors steel mesh into the drainage pipe that was specially designed to be not be a part of the rest of the drainage system, but rather lead the liquid straight to the incinerator. After that hot gas blew in all directions to push off any remaining liquid. Then finally white energy field descended down from the ceiling until it reached the floor and then went back up again. The whole process lasted fifteen minutes

"Okay you guys are clean" Announced Aaron rather suddenly as the opposite door leading into the base slide open.

The Control room was deeper underground and was the heart of the complex. The room itself was busy as personnel went about sorting out the final preparations for long term stasis. The room was 12x8 meter room, the walls were the same white concrete as the rest of the base, and the air was warm and energetic. Various touchscreen computer consoles lit the room up, which were supplemented with holographic displays. The whole room was lit up in a sky blue light from the computers and displays. The blue light bounced off the walls and gave the whole room an eerie yet mystical feeling. The large room had only one entrance. The consoles were positioned so user at the stations would face the entrance. At the centre of the room was the 'central station' a large computer console which could control, in theory, everything in the station. This console was semi-circle shaped and stood directed at the opposite end of the room from the entrance. A cylindrical pedestal was built in the central console, and was positioned to be closer to the entrance by half sticking out the central console. The console was about a meter high whilst the pedestal was about 10cm higher. Amanda was at the 'central station' prepping all the systems for their extended sleep in stasis.

Amanda was 5ft 10in, which was quite tall for women. Her skin was pale white due to living under ground for a year however it only highlighted her long dark orange hair which reached her shoulders, her deep green eyes the could pierce into your sole with the right look and small nose. She wore her custom power armour, excluding the helmet which was on the computer console next to her. Her armour custom painted to be white with a red stripe leading down the arms, legs, chest plate and back.

"Aaron, how long before the virus on the surface dies out?" Amanda quickly asked as she was doing system checks.

"I'd say about 850 - 900 years, but just to be safe why don't we make it a 1000 years?" Aaron replied as his avatar rippled to life on the pedestal. The hologram was about a meter high and was blue. It was almost see through, but you could clearly make out details on the hologram. If it weren't for the hologram being see through and blue then you'd clearly be able to see that Aaron's avatar is that of black British decent. The avatar had short hair and was rather thin, he mainly lean to one side with his arms crossed.

"A 1000 years! Can the pods even keep all of us alive that long?"

"It's possible, although I'll to utilise the geothermal plants in sequence to avoid them burning out, but I think I can do it"

"You think?" Amanda asked as she stopped, looked up and raised an eyebrow at the holographic avatar staring back at her with a very bad pokerface.

"98% certain… Look don't worry, I'll find a way – just don't be surprised when I've cannibalized the now critical systems" He replied with a touch of confidence.

"Well fair enough, tell everyone to get to their stasis pods."

"Already done" Aaron said as everyone in the base received the message on their com units.

It only took 15 minutes before everyone except Amanda was in their stasis pods, Amanda was doing last system checks before she took her helmet and placed it in a storage locker beside the only stasis pod in the command centre, it was direct next the 'central station'. After sealing her helmet away in the storage locker she opened the pod and placed her assault rifle in a specially designed holster before putting making sure her pistol was at her side and armed. She step inside and the door closed in front of her.

"Aaron, confirm that everyone is safely inside their pods?"

"Confirmed Commander"

"Then begin the localised neutron purge, outside the facility."

"Okay…. Done" Aaron replied smugly

"Okay, keep everything in order will I'm out"

"No promises…" Aaron replied playfully

"Son of a bitch thinks he's funny…" Amanda muttered before she put on her breathing mask and the stasis fluid filled the pod and then without warning everything froze. Amanda fell asleep just at that moment, and then time stood still inside the pod.

The base's light shut down, along with all the non-critical systems

Citadel Date: 2183

The Citadel was busy with activity as per normal, the long arms of the Wards were lit up with city lights except from the area were the local star in the nebular shown on them. The Citadel defence fleet could faintly be seen in the nebular. The only thing different about the ships around the Citadel was a few Batarian ships orbiting outside the station.

The Citadel tower was the main focus today as the Council were finally dealing with the Batarians pushing their luck. The three Councillors stood at the podiums slightly looking down at that the Batarian ambassador and his assistants.

"The Batarian government has been warned not to attack Citadel colonies ambassador." Councillor Tevos stated calmly towards the Batarian that was now giving her a dirty look.

"Councillors please, the Hegemony has nothing to do with the independent slavers" Retorted the Batarian ambassador whilst staring directly at the near 1000 year old Tevos.

"Then how come captured slaves from Citadel space end up at Hegemony slave market?" Councillor Valern asked in his rather quick tone.

"Well the Hegemony was raiding the pirate slavers and taking them into better care" coyly stated the ambassador

"Bullshit! Lie to your people if you want, but don't lie to us!" Growled Sparatus before adding "If the Hegemony continues raiding Citadel colonies then direct intervention maybe necessary"

Councillor Tevos quickly gave Sparatus scolding look before turning her attention back to the increasingly looking angry Batarians.

"What Sparatus meant is if the Hegemony does not stop raiding colonies in Citadel space then you will leave us no choice but direct intervention."

"You are denying us of our cultural heritage! This is offensive!" Barked the Batarian ambassador

"You have been warned" Tevos stated calmly before noticing her fellow councillors gave her a gesture that they were ready to wrap this meeting up, clocking on to this Tevos stated in the same calm tone "This meeting of the Council is adjourned"

The Batarians stormed out as C-sec guards escorted them back to their ships. The Council stepped inside their private chamber. Valern simply sat down at the table in the centre of the room and began checking up on events from various STG teams on his Omni-tool, whilst Sparatus grabbed a protein bar, sat down at the table un-wrapping the bar. Tevos was the last in and as soon as the doors were closed she gave Sparatus a look that if looks could kill, would have vaporised him there and then.

"Threating war with the Batarians? Do you have any idea of the political ramifications of that statement?" Tevos barked at Sparatus, who was now half way through his protein bar.

"We were all thinking the same thing. The Batarians have been pushing their luck for years now and besides it's not like we can't handle them." Sparatus indifferently replied

"Can handle Batarians yes. But not both them and Terminus Systems."

"Valern is right, a lot of Batarian operate in the Terminus Systems and I for one don't want to be dragged into a galactic war because you don't bother to check with us before making threats!" Tevos' biotics started to show as she was surrounded in field of dark energy

"Look okay, I hear what you are saying. Just set up a diplomatic meeting later on in the month with the Batarians again and try to came things down"

"Batarians pretty annoyed. Particularly with today's meeting. It'll be difficult" Valern stated interrupting the other two councillors.

"Well preventing galactic war would be prefera-" Started Tevos before she was cut off by the stations alarms.

The Citadel Mass Relay was quite for the most part, nothing had exited it since the Batarians arrived two hours ago. The Fleet was orbiting the Citadel whilst a detachment of a few frigates broke formation to escort the Batarian ships. The ships approached the Relay but before the Batarians could use it, the Relay came to life. The next moment was surreal to the Captain of the Destiny Ascension as a massive 2 kilometre long vessel exited the Relay with dozens of Geth ships. She watched as in a matter of seconds the 2 kilometre vessel ploughed right through the Batarian ships, destroying them on impact. Matriarch Lidanya could not believe her eyes as this vessel was intact. A split second latter hundreds of years of training slapped her back to reality as she start barking orders for the fleet to engage the Geth and this large vessel. She also ordered the Citadel council be evacuated and the station be sealed off.

A C-sec officer was escorting the Council down several hallways to their transport to the Ascension; the Citadel was no long safe as confirmed report of Geth on the Citadel had come over the comm.

"What exactly is going on corporal?" Sparatus asked as he briskly walked

"Geth on the stations sir. They've taken Citadel control. The station isn't closing and the Geth or advancing" replied the Asari Corporal before she stopped and offered her pistol out to the 3 councillors. Sparatus took it after a moment's hesitation.

"Geth on the station? Most concerning. How did they get aboard?" Valern asked now visibly looking worried.

"Don't know sir, first sighting was on the Presidium sir."

"Where is the rest of your unit?"

"The Geth got them Councillor Valern. I was ordered to go after council while they held the Geth back"

"How in the Goddess' name did they get there? Were they any visible signs that they cut their wa-" Tevos asked before she was interrupted by their best Spectre; Saren Arterius.

"Councillors! I'm glad you made it out alive, follow me I can get you to your transport" Saren stated in his normal sly tone

"Saren, thank the Spirits you're here, we need to get out of here" Sparatus stated as he checked the thermal clip in the pistol.

"The main route is crawling with Geth; however I've found us an alternate route. Follow me."

The group briskly walked down several hallways leading away from the main fighting. That's when they got a view of the Wards closing, which normally would be a good thing however the sight of the 2 kilometre vessel inside the arms made the situation even worse.

"By the Goddess, look at the size of that ship. It's huge" stated the Asari corporal who was in awe at the sight of it.

"Councillors and corporal wait here, I'm going to scout ahead" Saren said before turning away and jogging down the hallway and taking a corner.

"This is bad, the Citadel arms are closed, how are we going to get off the station? And way is the big vessel docking with the Citadel tower?" Sparatus growled as became noticeably nervous.

"Sirs and Ma'am, we need to remain quite otherwise the Geth will hear u-" The Corporal quietly began before her barrier and head exploded all over the 3 now shocked Councillors before collapsing to the ground revealing several Geth and Saren rushing towards them. Before Tevos and Sparatus knew to Valern was hit several time in the chest before collapsing backwards. Instinctively they both ran for some nearby cover. To call it cover was a bit too generous, it was a small steel table turned over, but they really didn't have a lot of options. Instinctively the moment they were under cover Sparatus popped out of it and began to fire at the closest Geth whilst Tevos used a biotic throw on another one. Two Geth down, only a few more and a rouge Spectre to go. Sparatus checked his thermal clip, only a total of 15 shots remained out of both the extra thermal clip and the current clip. Again popping out of cover he fired at the nearest Geth trooper, downing it quickly before Saren's assault rifle broke through his barrier and ripped right through his left shoulder, causing Sparatus to get back into cover.

"Fuck!" Sparatus shouted as he gripped his shoulder.

Tevos quickly popped out of cover and throw a Stasis at Saren whilst Sparatus fired from his right hand at the remaining Geth. Saren dived out of the way but now his little Geth squad had been dealt with. Saren quickly run to cover behind a wall.

"Why are you doing this Saren? This is treason!" Tevos shouted behind her cover as she applied Medi-gel to Sparatus' shoulder.

"Treason? I'm trying to save lives. The Reapers are too powerful to be stopped. I'm forging an alliance with them in order to save more lives than have ever existed." Saren barked with defiance as he lent out and fired a quick burst at the table and then going back into cover.

"Reapers? Saren that thing is obviously a Geth ship and how is killing everything on the Citadel, saving lives?" Tevos shouted

"Some sacrifices are necessary in order to achieve perfection!"

"As soon as he comes out of cover throw a stasis on him, I'll do the rest" Sparatus whispered before popping out of cover and aiming at Saren location. Tevos popped out and got ready to freeze the rough Spectre.

"Saren, I don't know what the Geth have done to you but we can help you!" Sparatus shouted

Saren leant out with his assault rifle primed but before Sparatus could fire of a shot he stopped. He couldn't move. Tevos felt a sharp pain in her back and blood run down her. She'd been shot but not by Saren. She turned around to see a powerful Asari, MatriarchBenezia. Tevos gave her a look of shock, anger and confusion before Benezia lifted her pistol to her head and fired. Saren jogged up to them and aim at Sparatus, who was still unable to move. The moment the Stasis stopped Saren unloaded half a thermal clip into Sparatus before heading to the Citadel tower with Benezia.


	2. Chapter 2: Message from the Deep

**Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect but all original content is mine.**

 **AN: I'm surprised by the amount of favourites and followers for this little fanfic, but thank you. I'm going to separate scenes with "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX" now because the dashes didn't bloody come up. I must apologize for the terrible grammar/spelling, I try to get it all but some slips through, but anyway back to the story.**

 _ **Chapter 2: Message from the deep**_

The battle for the Citadel raged throughout the Widow nebular. Many council ships regrouped after a small FTL jump with the Destiny Ascension for a counter offensive against the Geth incursion. The small fleet returned back to the Citadel within a few minutes of leaving and quickly annihilated several Geth cruisers and frigates before the Geth forces reorganized and hit back. Both fleets now within visual range of each other, slugged it out firing their mass accelerators at close range. The fleets did this for several minutes before an Asari cruiser broke off the fleet and jumped into FTL towards the Relay.

The CIC of the Destiny Ascension was a course of alarms, orders being shouted and movement. They were focus on one thing; the removal of the Geth at all costs.

"Ma'am, the Deliverance has broken rank and is headed towards the Relay!" A young Asari officer shouted over the noise to Matriarch Lidanya, who quickly walked over to her.

"Deliverance, this is the Ascension, get back into ranks now!" Matriarch Lidanya barked down the comms.

"We…. attem…. reniforc…. opy?" replying the Deliverance's commander whilst causing a stern look all over the Lidanya's face, but before she could reply one of the counsels on other side of the CIC decided it was the best time to explode and start a fire, causing all attention to put the fire out before it spreads.

The Deliverance exited FTL 20 kilometres from the Relay. The cruiser however was now directly behind a rather large Geth ship, a dreadnought. The Deliverance opened up with all its forward facing firepower it had, assaulting the Geth barriers, before shunting every inch of power into the sunlight engines and barriers. The result was unexpected, rather than doing nothing to the Geth barrier and then them all being blown out of the sky, it appears that the close range fire and surprise had damaged the dreadnought enough for it to break off temporarily. The cheers of celebration were short lived however when the dreadnought turned around and opened up with what it had. The result smashed the Deliverance's barriers and the pulverised the ship's back, but despite that their inertia paid off and the used the Relay.

The counter-attack at the Citadel wasn't going well, they were outnumber, outgunned and outmanned, 4 to 1. Their fleet had just lost another handful of ships and the Ascension's barriers were at breaking point but they were still fighting with all the might they could muster, they weren't going to allow some overgrown VI to kill them and they'll be dammed if they did. Unfortunately the universe wasn't on their side today as the Citadel's arms began to open revealing the large to 2 kilometre ship heading towards them. If that wasn't bad enough for them, then they were going to love what happened next. The Citadel tower shot a constant beam of white light off into the void behind the station and a few moments later thousands of the 2 kilometre ships with several subclass exited FTL around the Citadel. Before anyone in the remains of the Citadel fleet knew, these ships began firing red direct energy weapons that sliced through their barrier like they weren't even there. The battle abruptly ended their as the Citadel fleet went up like fireworks. The Reapers then assumed direct control over the Geth fleet by quickly hacking their network.

The Deliverance exited FTL next to the Parnitha Mass Relay and immediately began contacting the Asari military and warning them about the possible loss of the Citadel to the Geth. At the thought of losing the Citadel to AI was unacceptable to the Asari government as they ordered a complete mobilisation of all military assets whilst warning the Turian and Salarian governments via FTL comms. However they weren't prepared for the hundreds of Reapers pouring into their systems. The main fleets were quick swatted away before the Reapers began harvesting all the major colonies and homeworlds of the galaxy.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Captain Valeia Dexilinus led the remnants of the Turian 7th Fleet. During a battle at Pinnacle Station she was ordered by the station's admiral to jump her flagship and the remains of the fleet into the void between stars in the Argos Rho cluster, whilst 4th and 9th fleet held the enemy at bay. Valeia Dexilinus was quite young to be an admiral; she was 26 and had already seen a lot of action in before the Reapers arrived. She had deep golden eye which complimented her clans white tattoos on her face plates. Following repairs to her fleet she ordered them to jump back to Pinnacle Station. After a few hours travel the fleet arrived to find the shattered remains of the battle. With only a handful of survivors and fleet comms chatter going dead, the fleet salvaged anything they could began to make preparation to leave.

"Captain Dexilinus, we can't just leave" muttered her XO as they left the CIC and headed to the elevator.

"You think I like it either? We have to do this" She replied as she quick stepped into the elevator

"We're turning our backs on this fight; we're Turians for spirits' sake" Commander Galril angrily stated as he followed her into the elevator.

"Commander, we just got our asses handed to us during that battle. If we hadn't been ordered to leave and regroup we'd be dead too" Dexilinus sated angrily at him before walking in front of him and growling "We're damn lucky they didn't chase us, and to add to that comms chatter has gone dead, meaning it's quite possible we're the last of the Turian fleet"

"More reason to get back into the fight Captain"

"And be killed along with everyone else? No! I won't allow the Turian species to become extinct, that why we are heading off the Relay network to an area of the galaxy which possibly doesn't have any relays." She stated in an increasingly angry manner towards her XO. If it wasn't for the elevator door opening up to the cargo deck then she probably would have snapped even more at him. She turned to him and stated in a calm manner "If you're unable to carry out my orders then consider yourself confined to quarters, are we clear?"

"Yes Captain" He stated calmly before saluting

Valeia walked out of the elevator, down the hallway and through the cargo bay access doors. She inspected her crew salvaging various equipment, element zero and resources. She watched and even assisted them later on, before calling a senior staff meeting in the port observation room.

A few hours passed and the senior staff members were all present and sitting around a large rectangular table, the room was large it had only one door close front of the room, a large holographic projector at the front of the room and a large window that looked out into space. The door itself was a bulkhead door rather than the conventional automated doors. Its main feature was the large metal table which could seat about 20 Turians. The senior staff members were talking amongst themselves before Valeia walked through the door, closing it behind her. The room went silent as all eyes were on her.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for coming. I'll skip straight to the main issue today which is once we've repaired the fleet we are going to head though the Relay to the Horsehead nebular and then go off the Relay network for an area of the galaxy which is believed not to have any Relays. I need to know that you all can keep the fleet going until we get there" Valeia stated dryly towards the now confused looking group. After a few minutes of awkward silence, the chief engineer, Metbus Abidos, spoke up

"Captain what you propose is not only difficult but isn't this desertion?"

The question caused an outbreak of muffled conversation in the group before Valeia slammed her fist against causing everyone in the room to shut up and look at her

"Whilst I'm aware it is I still think it's the best thing to do since we've not only had our asses kicked but also contact with high command. Simply put, we may be the last Turian fleet out here and we to leave before those machines come and kill us all"

The room went silent again before everyone began to discuss the logistics of the plan. The final conclusion was that it was possible however; it would take years of travel, they'd have to mine and process their own fuel, grow food, and find a garden world before they all reach an age where they can no longer breed.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

During the last 2 days the fleet had salvaged and repaired almost everything. They were ready to utilise the Relay and begin their plan. They emerged at the Pax system, everything looked normal and there were no signs of Reaper activity in the immediate area. Before the fleet could turn and begin jumping out of the cluster, several vessels jumped directly in front of them. Alarms rang across the CICs of the fleet as the Turians prepared to defend themselves against the Machines. However a few moments of approach the VI noted that these weren't the Machine vessels but rather Asari warships. Contact was made and the fleets stood down. After much discussion the Asari agreed to the plan and notified the Turians of dozens of civilian vessels the Asari had been protecting. Once the civilian fleet joined the large military fleet they began their long journey.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

A few months into the journey the fleet came across a small Quarian fleet, only a mere fraction of the flotilla, it was all that survived the Reaper's onslaught. The Quarians were quickly integrated into the fleet because; their ships were mainly mining/processing ships and they had experience living in deep space. The fleet wandered for a few years searching for a habitable planet to settle on. Between finding enough element zero, discharging their cores and transit time it took them 3 years to arrive at a trinary star system. It consisted of two main sequence stars orbiting each other with a red dwarf star orbiting the pair at a distance of 0.24 light years. The system was an excellent pit stop for the fleet as the local moons of a large gas giant were rich in various metals and ores. The system even contained a decent amount of element zero. The system contained 2 gas giants and 2 smaller rocky planets, none of which were habitable. Whilst the fleet orbited a gas giant, fleet command ordered Captain Opirius Rufculus to scout the nearby star system. His ship was a simple frigate, the Prideful Monarch.

Captain Rufculus stepped into the CIC reading his data pad which contained his new orders, before walking up the little ramp to the Captains station, at the back, overlooking the CIC. He rubbed his eyes before ordering the FTL jump to the next system. A few minute after the order, his ship jumped to FTL. The jump was followed by several groans from the ship, causing a few crewmen to look at the walls and bulkheads in the CIC. After several hours of travel, the Monarch exited FTL on the edge of the system.

"Okay, so what have we got?" Rufculus asked half-heartedly as he read through reports on his data pad.

"Main sequence star. Eight planets, inner four are terrestrial, outer four are gas giants" replied one of the CIC officers.

Now giving his full attention to the report on the system, Rufculus asked "Wait, the inner four are terrestrial? Is there a possible chance of finding a garden world?" Rufculus' mood suddenly improved as he was now was faced with the prospect of finding a planet that would require minimal effort to live on.

"Nothing confirmed yet sir; we'd need to get in closer to get an accurate reading"

"Well set a course. We can scan the system later, right now possible garden worlds take priority"

With a noticeable jolt, his ship entered a quick FTL jump towards the inner star system. After a few minutes the exited above the fourth planet and began scanning.

"Report!" Rufculus barked with noticeable excitement peeking through his professional exterior.

"The planet is small sir; it has a diameter of 6,794 km. The planet's atmosphere is thin and it has hardly any magnetic protection from solar wind."

"Ah carp. Well what about resources?"

"Scanners are picking up decent amounts of usable resources as well as some unusual magnetic readings in the planet's southern hemisphere."

"Well flag it with a transponder, the fleet can investigate further, take us to the next planet"

The ship's sublight engines roared to life in the form of a noticeable jolt as the ship left this barren world for the next planet. After a few minutes of travel the CIC was busy with activity of getting ready to assess the planet's habitability. As they entered visual range, the planet was brought up on the view screen at the front of the CIC. The whole CIC went silent as they saw small but distinctly blue planet with what looked like cloud cover and green landmass.

"Spirits… Operations, give me a report on that planet" the captain ordered whilst he was still transfixed on the image.

After a few minutes the Operations officer finally reported "The planet is habitable sir. Large amounts of cloud and ocean coverage. Strong magnetic field. Gravity is roundabout the same as Thessia's."

"Well this is exactly what the fleet leadership needs to hear. Continue surveying the system and then plot a course back to the fleet"

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The fleet had just arrived in orbit of garden world's natural satellite, whilst teams assessed the best locations to build a colony; the fleet was preparing to salvage everything they could from the fleet to build the colony. Eventually a large island of a large continent with a distinct Asari boot shape was chosen. The island, after observation, proved to have stable and well balanced climate compared to other areas of the planet. The island also proved to a brilliant naval defensible location because it was surrounded by sea. The first settlement was quickly constructed and consisted of basic tents and walls. The settlement was for the first wave of soldiers, engineers and scientists. The life proved to be levo-amino acid based rather than dextro, meaning that food processors were need to be brought down from the fleet to feed the dextro population mainly. Various ancient structures finally allowed the surviving archaeologists to be useful again as the fleet hadn't needed archaeologists for the duration of their journey. Over the next year, the fleet was disassembled for it raw materials and used to construct a large city along a major river in centre east of the island. The biggest challenge was creating airtight building for the Quarians. The City was eventually named Corroln by the newly recreated council which included the Quarians as equal members. The colonists had also noted various useful animals and began the process of domestication. The most popular were quadrupeds that had snouts and big tails. The whole animal was furry and was also clearly a predator. The need for food however was mainly provided by their food processors which converted algae into a paste like substance. The colony was powered by salvaged fusion reactors which relied on deuterium which was extracted from sea water. Several outposts were already along the east coast of the island extracting deuterium and transporting it via pipeline to the colony.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Daiyne T'karan was an Asari Matron and archaeologist. She was head of the survey team responsible for locating resources around the colony. Her skin was a deep blue and he head crest had marks to indicate Krogan heritage. Her eyes were sapphire blue. She was 5ft 4in and had a smile that could knock a man dead. She got out of bed lazily as she put on her slacks, bra and a simple T-shirt. It was early in the morning on this planet and everyone was still getting to the 24 hour time scale rather than the standard 20 hours. She lived in a small apartment in the inner-city. The apartment block was a minimalist white concrete, steel and glass tower. But the minimalism didn't carry on into her apartment. The apartment had one bedroom which contained a simple double bed, two draws, a main wardrobe and a small on-sweet bathroom. The bedroom door led out into the rest of the apartment which was a large room. It was Kitchen and living room in one. There was a spare smaller guest room that was being used as a storage space at the moment and a door near the kitchen area. The apartment was slightly messy with stuff being lying about on the sofa and area where it shouldn't be. It wasn't amazing but the simple fact she could open windows and not be sucked out into space made this place seem amazing. As she looked over to the bed, her Turian boyfriend was still asleep.

"Tultus… Tultus! We're going to be late!" She voiced loudly as she walked into the kitchen part of the apartment.

"Meh… Just let me sleep for a few more minutes" He groaned back before sitting up lazily a few moments later and began to put his clothes on.

As he got dress, Daiyne was in the kitchen preparing the flavoured protein pastes for them both, making sure to not get the two mixed up. After they eat 'breakfast' and were properly dressed, they locked the door and walked down the stairwell of the apartment block and headed outside to their car parked outside in the parking lot. The car was a simple hydrogen powered automobile, unlike the sky-cars they had flown years ago. They got in and headed to the city limit, where they would meet the rest of the expeditionary team.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The team was assembled at the military checkpoint at the city limit. The team was a small 12 person team consisting of several archaeologists, two technicians and the rest guards. They were allowed to take a truck and jeep, designed to go off road, out into the wilderness. Daiyne drove the jeep with her chief of security Tultus. A Quarian technician, Gos'Nome, road in the back with a Salarian guard. The jeep led as the truck followed. They drove for several hours, north-west, until they arrived at the middle of nowhere. The got out and began to set up the camp. The area, like the rest of the island was a mixture of forest and swirling green plains. A few months into the dig and they had unearthed several artefacts, most were bit of steel but their prized find was a sign, although faded, written on it was an alien language. Daiyne was in the main military tent studying the prized artefact with Gos'Nome, when Tultus came strolling in casually in his power armour with his assault rifle.

"So are you two having fun with the bit of metal?" Tultus teased as they both looked around startled about not realising he had entered the room

"By the Goddess, Tultus I wish you wouldn't come sneak up on us like that and besides these aren't just bit of metal" Daiyne said as she turned her attention back to the artefacts

"They look like it to me" Tultus teased, earning him a look from both of them

"Surely you don't just see this as metal, the significance of it being steel and having strangle symbols on is-" Before she could go any further, Tultus cut her off

"I know, I'm just messing with ya and besides they're having trouble with the comms tower again Gos'"

The Quarian didn't say anything as he left the room before heading over to the comms tower to find the other technician attempting to repair it on his own. Gos'Nome approach the female Salarian, Bekar Halbene before asking.

"What's wrong with it this time?"

"What? Oh… yeah it's that damn interference again" She stated in annoyed and fast tone before adding "This time it's a series of beeps over the transmission"

"Beeps? Do you mind if I listen?" Gos'Nome asked before the Salarian gave him an approving nod. The Quarian patched his internal comm system to the interference. Like Bekar had said, he heard beeps, 11 to be precise then after a few moments he counted 13. "Keelah" Gos'Nome muttered as he quickly recorded the two numbers on his Omni-tool.

"11 and 13? What's so signif-" Bekar asked before she cut herself of and clocked onto what the Quarian was thinking. Then the Quarian wrote '17' on his Omni-tool before muttering

"Prime numbers"

The two stared at each other for a few seconds before darting back to Daiyne's military tent. They burst through the closed tent flap, ruining a moment between Daiyne and Tultus.

"Prime numbers" The technicians stated in unison, causing both Daiyne and Tultus to look at them confused.

"The interference it's not interference, something is broadcasting prime numbers" Gos'Nome stated

"Can you track its origin?" Daiyne asked as she walked over to the pair intrigued

"Yes. I'll take a few moments but I've already got my Omni-tool tracking it" Bekar calmly said before her Omni-tool, as if on cue, beeped to say its finished tracking. Everyone in the room looked at Bekar's Omni-tool as she gave it a confused look before stating "It appears to be directly several miles underground"

"Goddess, we have to inform the council about this discovery"

"Agreed, it's certainly worth a look" Stated the Quarian before his Omni-tool crashed, rebooted and then displayed something that made his face visibly pale even through the mask

"What is it?" Tultus asked with a guard look

"My… My Omni-tool… I just got a message from the location of the prime numbers… Translated directly into Quarian… It reads 'Help Us'"


	3. Chapter 3: Passage of Time

**Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect but all original content is mine.**

 _ **Chapter 3: Passage of Time**_

"Aaron, confirm that everyone is safely inside their pods?"

"Confirmed Commander"

"Then begin the localised neutron purge, outside the facility."

"Okay…. Done" Aaron replied smugly

"Okay, keep everything in order will I'm out"

"No promises…" Aaron replied playfully

"Son of a bitch thinks he's funny…" Amanda muttered before she put on her breathing mask and the stasis fluid filled the pod and then without warning everything froze. Amanda fell asleep just at that moment, and then time stood still inside the pod.

The base's light shut down, along with all the non-critical systems

Aaron retreated to the cyberspace of his core after setting up all the necessary systems and processes to keep his precious human cargo alive. He also linked into the communication network that linked all the AIs of the Ark Stations. The first hundred years were pleasant, all 24 AI were getting along and working on various ways to improve their facilities. The problems didn't start until 200 years later when the geothermal energy some of the ark stations used, began to burn out their generators. 6 Ark stations were lost before the rest of the AI could correct the problem without waking the humans.

The 18 AIs meet in Cyberspace. They used their avatars in the virtual environment. The quality of the avatar however was much better than it was in the real world, for starters they weren't see through and they looked real. The environment was by default a void of white, the only things that existed were the AIs. They did however have power to create anything in this environment. The mainly loaded a large winter cabin interior. The main feature of this room was a marble firer place in the wall with a large table in front of it. 24 armchairs sat around the table. The rest of the room had several bookcases filled with books. The 18 AIs were sat in their armchairs talking quietly amongst themselves. Aaron appeared in his armchair sitting forward; he reached for the table and took the cup of coffee that suddenly appeared. He wore his white tank top, green jeans and black shoes. Letting his coffee cool in his hands, he looked over to the rest of the AIs.

"I know it's bad that they died but at least we got information to keep the rest of us alive" stated Rebecca towards Aaron in her distinct New York accent. She was sat beside him leaning back in her armchair, putting her book down and was now looking at him with her light blue eye. Her brown hair covered one of her eyes and drew attention to her pale white skin. She wore a simple peach jumper, blue jeans and black trainers.

"They're going to be missed." Aaron said quietly as he took a sip of his hot cup of black coffee before adding "Their sacrifice will be remembered"

"Definitely! When we rebuild the world, I bet there will be a huge ass monument with all their names on"

"I hope so and if not we'll make sure of it" Aaron stated as he smiled at her.

"I was thinking did you want to work on that fusion reactor project again. You know if you're not busy" She said as she attempted to hide her check blushing by moving her hair.

"I got time" He said with a smile before he put his coffee down.

The two disappeared from the cabin and reappeared in a lab. The lab was sterile white with various holographic consoles dotted all over the place. In the middle of the room was a holographic display of the prototype reactor. The two went about working on the reactor for several months of real time before Aaron broke the silence.

"Did you want to watch a movie later?"

"Yeah… Yeah I'd like that" She said whilst trying to sound not excited about it.

Aaron just smiled at her before they continued to work on the project. After a few months they had gotten nowhere and decided to come back to it later. They left the lab and went to a cinema. It was just them in there as they sat down at back of the cinema. The place went dark as the film started.

"What film is it?" Rebecca asked as she snuggled up to him

"One of my favourites, Donnie Darko" He said as he put his arm around her

"Oh good choice"

The two watched the film, as she snuggled into him. They stayed like that until the part where Donnie and his girlfriend kissed, mirroring that moment they kissed. After the film they decided to go back to the winter cabin. They sat down and talked for a bit before they both had to leave to maintain their ark stations.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Over the next 500 years they meet up regularly and enjoyed each other's company. Over that time they had lost 12 others. The whole group held memorial service for everyone they had lost. The future looked bleak as only 3 of them and their arks remained. Aaron and Rebecca had each other and that was the one of the main things keeping them going. The 3 AIs meet in the default void, deciding that the cabin was not the same with only the 3 of them. Aki was the last to appear. She was in charge of the Ark in Tokyo. She had deep brown eyes and her hair was tied up in a bun. She wore a dark red dress and high heels. The 3 of them stood in a circle.

"The situation is bad, now that there are only 3 of us left." Aki stated whilst crossing her arms

"You're telling me, but we have to keep going. We can't fail in the task we've been entrusted with." Aaron said calmly before Rebecca walked away from them slightly and then turned back to them.

"I know we can't fail but I can't help but worry. What if we don't survive? The human race will die with because we can't keep the facilities going."

"Rebecca we'll make it, it's only two hundred years longer"

"Do we have to wait two hundred years? Why not wake them now?" Aki asked with genuine curiosity

"We can't risk it; the infection might still be around. It's tough but it can't last a thousand years" Aaron replied with authority in his voice

"He's right, we just need to keep-" Rebecca started before she cut herself of and looked away concerned.

Aaron and Aki swapped a concerned look before looking at Rebecca.

"Rebecca, what's wrong?" Aaron asked as he put his hand on her shoulder.

"My facility has just sustained damage, I've lost the control system to wake them and I've lost all my ground sensors."

"What happened?" Aki asked

"Tsunami… Judging by the height and speed of the wave. It's either an asteroid impact which is bad or Cumbre Vieja has exploded"

"Cumbre Vieja? The island apart of the Canary Islands? If it's hit north America then the wave will hit-" Aaron replied before he lost contact with his ground based sensors in the peak district and the control system. They turned to Aki who was looking increasingly nervous.

"Aki, I've just been hit with what Rebecca has been hit with. When you wake the people in your Ark we need-" Aaron began before Aki cut him off by stating

"I've just experienced massive seismic activity… The system to wake the people here… It's been destroyed"

"Shit! We've got to repair this now" Rebecca blurted out before she left them to repair her Ark

Aaron and Aki looked at each other before they left to repair their own Arks. Progress was slow; they didn't have a lot of resources to work with and the system was really damaged. The regularly all communicated with each other to discuss the problem and try to work out a solution. The best they could achieve was manual activation, the downside being that someone had to physically start the process from the control station in the each of their Arks. If that wasn't bad enough, to achieve this they had to canalise all of their Mechs in repairing the system so they couldn't have their Mechs start it. They were truly fucked but they didn't have any other option. Once they did that they shifted their focus to Ark longevity and designed upgrades to everything in order to make them last until something else found them.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

200 years after that and the AIs had done all they could to their Arks. They decided to meet in virtual world for a small party to mark a thousand years from the start of their task. The room was small and had two sofas, TV and a table with food on. A banner over the TV read "1000 years". The two sofas were positioned around the TV with the table behind the sofa closest to the TV. The sofas were about a meter away from the TV. The 3 of them were wearing the same outfits they had worn for the past thousand years. Aaron poured Aki a glass of her favourite wine and handed it to her. He then grabbed a bottle of beer for himself and Rebecca and then opened his. He raised his beer into the air and said calmly

"To those who couldn't be here today and the people they were preserving"

The three of them touched their beverages together before drinking.

"You know what seems strange?" Aki asked as she sat down

"What?" Rebecca replied sitting down next to Aaron on the opposite sofa

"The fact that we're AIs and yet we take the time to simulate eating and drinking when it serves no purpose"

"Well yeah okay, it doesn't do anything for use nutritionally, but we can still taste it and enjoy it"

"What we perceive to be taste, we haven't actually tasted anything for real" Rebecca butted in before taking another sip of her beer.

"Well yeah but if this is what beer tastes like then I'm happy" Aaron replied in a half-hearted laughed as the group began to relax and unwind. After a few hours they were listening to music as continued to banter and have enjoy the peace that had eluded them for so long. It wasn't until they heard weird voices over the music playing that the tension shifted back into them.

"Do you hear that?" Aaron said as he put his beer down and walked over to the TV playing music

"It sounds like gibberish, possibly data corruption?" Aki said

"No… it's too refined. I'm isolating the signal" Rebecca stated before the music cut out and the gibberish could be heard

"This isn't gibberish. Could… Could it be a language?" Aki said as a concerned look grow other her face.

"If so… Then whatever they are up there could be used to wake the Humans, we have to proceeded with caution though"

"Aaron's right, can anyone track the signal?" Rebecca stated before looking away

"It's strongest near me" Aaron stated before adding "I'm going to monitor communications and see if I can communicate with them."

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

A few months went by and the AIs had been able to translate parts of the alien language. Aaron had covertly hacked all the devices he could which were directly above him. He informed the AIs that it was only a small research camp and from what he could tell they had set a colony were Nottingham had used to be. He was intently monitoring them through their own devices, waiting for the moment that they'd pick up on the prime numbers he had been broadcasting. This was difficult however due to the difference in technologies. He barely noticed when one of the one's in sealed suited clocked on to the primes.

"Peeps, one of the suit ones has clocked on." Aaron told Aki and Rebecca

"Wait how do you know?" Aki asked

"I've just been able to use the suit's wrist computer's sensors. I'm monitoring the conversation between the Grey and the Suit. It sounds like they're running somewhere… Wait they're telling two others… A spiky and a Blue."

"Deliver the message" Rebecca said

"Done… He's telling them now; I wish I could see their faces"

"Wait what did you send?" Rebecca and Aki asked in unison

"The 'Help Us' message, you know to sound ambiguous"

"Well I hope it doesn't scare away are only hope of waking Humanity" Rebecca said as Aaron started to prepare his Ark for possible guests.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Daiyne, Tultus and Bekar just looked at the still startled Quarian. They'd be stood there for a few minutes since Gos'Nome got the ambiguous message on his Omni-tool. Tultus eventually broke the awkward silence "Well, we definitely got to tell the council now"

"No shit" Daiyne whispered as she was still staring at the Omni-tool, transfixed on the possibilities behind the message. She eventually came back to reality realising Tultus was right; they had to inform the council. "Okay, we can't pack everything up and there are still lots of things to discover around the area. We should go to the council since we are the only people to have seen this."

"I'll stay here and monitor anything else" Tultus quickly interjected gaining a head nod from Daiyne.

"Bekar get the jeep, Gos' get everything you can on the Primes and bring you're Omni-tool. I'm going to contact the council."

The 3 of them went about getting all the stuff they needed before they meet outside next to the jeep. They got in and drove back to Corroln; the journey took several hours until they reached the gate they exited months earlier. After passing through they head to the Capital building and were put on hold for an hour before the Council was ready for them.

The Council chamber was a large circular room with a main entrance that led to a semi-circle table had the four councillors sat around the table. The table was directly opposite the door. The section of the room with table and councillors was slightly elevated. The four councillors sat around the table at equidistant from each other. The Quarian Councillor Yator'Lamis sat on the far left, followed by the Turian Councillor Valeia Dexilinus, The Asari Councillor Kaedrau Moraala and lastly on the far right was the Salarian Councillor Lamon Oraji.

"Councillors, thank you for granting us an audience" Daiyne said whilst bowing slightly

"You said the meeting was urgent, we've got several more meetings with various government departments, so please what is so urgent?" Kaedrau said with blunt honesty

"Sorry yes, whilst at the dig site up north we began to get interference over our comms. My two technicians Gos'Nome and Bekar discovered this interference was in fact prime numbers-"

"Prime Numbers? From where?" Yator'Lamis butted in cautiously

"Several miles directly under the dig site" Bekar said with a touch of confidence in her voice

"Underground? Really? How is that possible?" Valeia asked with scepticism

"We don't know but that's not all, I got a message on my Omni-tool from the same thing broadcasting the primes, it read 'Help us'"

The four Councillors just looked at Gos'Nome with a mixture of scepticism and disbelief.

"We're asking for expeditionary funding and equipment to dig down to whatever is broadcasting. We've found artefacts that are roughly a thousand years old and they're from a civilisation that was at least capable of forge stainless steel."

"Wait, actual artefacts? What are they?" Yator'Lamis asked with a childlike curiosity

"Mostly what looks knifes but are biggest find was a sign!" Daiyne stated with excitement as Yator's curiosity deflated when it wasn't some technology.

"The significance of alien artefacts and that ambiguous distress call is a matter of concern, how do we know that if they are aliens down there, they won't be hostile?" Valeia stated with a tone of authority before adding "We should vote on the matter" As if on cue four holographic displays lit up in front of each councillor and shortly after they all voted.

"The Council has voted in favour to support your expedition. We'll be sending men and equipment to your dig site within the next few days. If there is nothing else, this meet is adjourned" Kaedrau said as she waited a few second for the group to say anything before Daiyne and her team were escorted out by three guards.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

4 months later

The dig site was active with men and machines digging deep down into the soil. They had managed to dig a mineshaft 6 miles into the ground. The mineshaft was 6 miles from the original dig site and was being dug at a 45 degree angle. Daiyne was still in charge and pleased with their progress. The site had been improved with flat pack buildings, mining equipment and ore processing facilities. They were less than a mile from the source of the signal when they hit the bottom of an elevator shaft. The elevator shaft was largely intact, the elevator itself was lodged and stuck 2 miles up. The bottom of the shaft had a large steal door and bits of debris were scattered. This was quickly secured and an emergency industrial strength kinetic barrier was installed above the large door and the beginning of the shaft that leads upwards, to stop falling debris crushing workers. A floor was quickly installed so they could access the large door more quickly. The existences of the doors alone made Daiyne ecstatic beyond believeth. Technicians, after working for a few days, managed to open the door. They found a corridor that was pitch black but bared white walls. Burn marks were present on the floor and the wall near the door. Daiyne naturally couldn't resist being at the front of the team going in, and this meant that Tultus naturally had to be with her. They breach a secondary door into what looked like an airlock and after that door they were in to the main facility. Daiyne, Tultus, Gos'Nome and Bekar followed their Omni-tools to the signal source. Whilst they moved throughout the facility they kept running into large pods that were sealed shut standing upright and attached to the wall. The pods were metal tubes with two central pipes coming out of the top. The glass which covered most of the front was stained black and couldn't been seen through. They walked around with flashlights, both hand held and assault rifle versions.

"What do you think are in the pods? People?" Stated Tultus as he pointed to the nearest pod casually with his assault rifle to illuminate the pod.

"Hmm. Perhaps the aliens who built the facility. My Omni-tool scans are being reflected back." Bekar said with a touch of annoyance in her voice as she stopped scanning.

The group eventually found a large room with dormant computers and a single pod next to a large workstation. The station had a distinct pedestal built into it. The only light coming from inside the room was a small blue orb above the pedestal. The light just bright enough to illuminate the console that the pedestal was built into. Daiyne immediately shot off towards the blue orb, causing Tultus to try and grab her arm but failing. Daiyne walked behind the pedestal to the console and saw that the panel in front of her was inactive except a small blue button in the centre. Before she could press it Tultus, who had now caught up to her, grabbed her arm.

"What are you doing, you have no idea what that could do?"

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained" Daiyne said as she removed her arm from his grip and pressed the button.

The next following seconds nothing happened, until the base's light came back on. This caused everyone to turn off their flashlights. The consoles and holographic displays lit up as information about the facility came onto various holographic displays. Daiyne walked over to console displaying the facilities layout; Tultus just sighed and followed her. Bekar and Gos'Nome stood behind Daiyne and Tultus as the looked at the display. The layout had various red, green and yellow blips on the map.

"The red blips must be us, as there is clearly four in this room on the map. The yellow must be damage because it's highlighted the elevator shaft and the green must be the aliens in the pods because they're all against the wall." Tultus said whilst he study the map looking for anything hostile

"Wait there is a green blip in this room" Gos'Nome said, causing them to look at the pod which then started to emit green light from strips on the side.

Tultus aimed his assault rifle at the pod as the blue orb merged into a holographic image of a being. It looked Asari except it didn't have a head crest and it was clearly masculine. The group just looked at the hologram whilst it looked back at them right before it shocked them by translating its speech immediately

"Hi… Err… Thanks for doing that, I really appreciate this"

Seconds later the pod opened revealing a woman in power armour, although it looked relatively weak by their standards. The power armour looked slightly wet. The woman didn't move she just stood there for a second before she opened her eye quickly, ripped off her breathing mask and fell to the floor only to catch herself with her arms. She immediately vomited onto the floor mesh before she jerked her head up to the hologram and then looked swiftly at the group of aliens who were staring at her. Still on her hands and knees she didn't move for a few seconds before, what was lightning speed, she jerked herself up and drew her pistol and aimed at the alien with the assault rifle. Tultus immediately aimed his assault rifle at her; to say he wasn't impressed with her drawing speed was a lie. Everyone just stood there, not wanting to make the other person begin shooting.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Amanda didn't really have a lot of time to react, 'it has been only 10 seconds and I'm already aiming at someone… or something I should say' she thought to herself. She looked them over quickly whilst still aiming at the spiky one, she couldn't help but think the blue one looked like something out of a nerds wet dream, 'I'm surprised she or it doesn't have a third boob' She quickly thought before she looked over the other two. One in a suit and a grey. 'Well shit, first contact is going really well' she thought before she noticed the Aaron was looking at her.

"Aaron, who or what are these… things?" She quickly asked while not taking her aim off the increasingly angry looking spiky being.

"Well they're aliens, obviously. I've hacked some of their communication systems. I'm already patching their language into your translator… They're you go, you can understand them now."

Amanda nodded as Aaron simply smiled; she looked the spiky being straight in the eyes and said with a tone of authority.

"What are you?"


	4. Chapter 4: Awakening and Negotiations

**Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect but all original content is mine.**

 **AN: It was brought to my attention that my Maths skills failed me during the last chapter. Regarding the AIs, it was originally going to be six that made it, however I changed it last minute and well I forgot to update the Maths, but thank you to everyone who pointed it out. I would have missed it completely, so please feel free to point out mistakes. It only helps me get better as a writer. Other than that, hope you enjoy the story.**

 _ **Chapter 4: Awakening and Negotiations**_

Tultus just stood there in shock. This fleshy pale Asari like being who had just come out of a pod had just spoken perfect Turian to him.

"What? How are you able to speak my language?" Tultus blurted in sheer disbelief

"Shut up! Answer the fucking the question"

"No! You answer my question or-" Before Tultus could finish his threatening question Daiyne cut him off.

"Tultus, she's confused and you aiming an assault rifle at her isn't going to help. To answer your question, the person you're aiming at is a Turian, I'm an Asari, she's a Salarian and he's a Quarian." Daiyne stated calmly as she introduced the whole group whilst never taking her eye off the women pointing a gun at her boyfriend.

"I know he's called Tultus, do the rest of you have names? And why do you look so Human?" Amanda demanded before she realised her mistake of revealing her species name.

"Yes we have names, I'm Daiyne, the Salarian is called Bekar and the Quarian is Gos'Nome. Human? Is that what your species is called?"

"If you must know yes, yes it is." Amanda said before she turned off her translator and turned her head slightly to Aaron "Aaron, are they more of these aliens in the Ark?"

"Yes but I've contained them in sections by sealing various doors and stuff."

"Good, have your mechs come up here and wake all the military personnel"

"I had to cannibalise the mechs in repairing the reactivation system, however I've already taken then liberty of waking them, and a squad are on their way up. ETA 1 minute."

Daiyne just smiled before she turned her translator on, she was about to tell them to surrender but she was cut off by the Quarian

"The way you're interacting with that VI is unusual. How advanced are your VIs?"

"VI? Mate, I'm not a Virtual Intelligence. I'm an Artificial Intelligence." Aaron replied with a hint of pride in his voice as the group of aliens standing in front of him started to look horrified.

Gos however had a look that was a mixture of anger and fear on his face as he turned to the Human addressing her directly whilst now completely ignoring the AI

" _Keelah_! You have an AI in charge of this place! What is wrong with you, you crazy _bosh'tet."_

Those two words didn't quite translate to Amanda as she looked at the Quarian 'What's so bad about that?' she thought before she was cut off by the sound of her soldiers running in through the door, taking up firing positions and aiming at the group of aliens. It was a good thing Aaron warned them not to fire unless Amanda or he said so, as the look on their faces when they saw the back of four different alien species standing there was a mixture of horror, dread, excitement and fear. It shit them up even more when the blue alien, the grey and the one in a pressure suit looked around at them.

"The cavalry has arrived Ma'am" Aaron stated in a tone of confidence to Amanda.

"Good work Aaron. Now, Tultus was it? Drop your weapon and put your hands on your head now! That goes for your friends as well"

Daiyne just looked back at Tultus before putting her hand on his assault rifle motioning for him to put it down. Tultus just looked at her as she shook her head slightly before finally putting his rifle on the floor and complying with the order. Several soldiers walked up to aliens with their guns still aiming at them.

"Lieutenant, take these aliens to ward 6 and secure it. Then coordinate with Aaron and take the remaining aliens down there as well."

"Yes Ma'am" Chirped the young lieutenant as he salute Amanda and motioned for his squad to help him escort the aliens away.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Ward 6 was, like the rest of the Ark, sterile white with big think steel doors that were air tight. The ward was a large room rectangular room about 15x10 meters. The room had a few dark red sofas that were bent at a 90 degrees angle in the middle. In front of the sofa were several lightweight lounge chairs. There were a few bookshelves on the wall. The room also had a door leading to unisex toilet facilities. They were also several plants in large white square pots. Room was designed to be a place for people to relax but now it had become a furnished holding area. The door slid open and Tultus, Daiyne, Bekar and Gos were herded in by 12 soldiers. The soldiers immediately retreated through the door and closed it, temporally sealing the alien in. The group looked around the room before Daiyne noticed Tultus staring at her

"I fucking told you not to press it but no; you went and pressed it anyway. Oh and look what it got us into now."

"Well I'm sorry my curiosity got the better of me and besides, how was I supposed to know that I was waking an AI and those aliens?"

"You didn't! That's why you should have waited for more men to secure the facility!"

"The situation is bad. We need to stay calm and work together." Bekar blurted out loudly to interrupt the couple arguing.

The door slid open, causing them all to stop taking and look at the group of Asari, Turians, and Salarians that were being herded in by a large amount of Human soldiers. Following the same procedure as last time the Humans quickly retreated through the metal door, sealing the large group of aliens inside the room. The new group surveyed the room before their leader, Metbus Abidos walked up to Daiyne and Tultus

"Ma'am, sir" Metbus saluted before continuing "Chief structural engineer for the expedition, Metbus Abidos. The situation is bad; they ambushed us in larger numbers. I made the call to surrender rather than get slaughtered"

"Good call, we'll need all the men we can when we break out of here" Tultus replied

"Tultus is right, although getting past their AI will be the hardest challenge"

"Wait that was an AI? I thought that VI hologram was a bit too energetic" Metbus said as he rubbed his mandibles with his hand.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Aaron meet Rebecca and Aki in cyberspace, they stood in a circle in the white void.

"My Ark has been revived and I've informed Amanda about the situation regarding the problem. We're still rounding up the aliens, although there weapons and armour are very interesting. I've already forwarded the data to you two. Plus some are putting be heavy resistance throughout the Ark."

"Hmm… Interesting, mass accelerated rounds." Rebecca said as various schematics of the rifle displayed in front of her face. "The rifle needs these clips to fire though. I'll study these rifles. See if we can replicate them."

"Their armour uses some kind of energy barrier to stop kinetic energy. This is amazing. The applications of this technology would greatly benefit humanity. I'll look it this" Aki said as she studied the schematic, of the alien armour and the technical read outs of the barriers, in front of her.

"Good, I'll study their biology and co-ordinate the capture of their remaining squads inside my Ark" Aaron said before leaving the other two in cyberspace.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The entrance to the Ark was busy with bullets flying back and forth, as the Council forces attempted to retreat back to the surface and warn the Council of these hostile aliens. The human forces were taking fire but advancing towards the Council forces at the edge of the entrance. The last Council forces left for the tunnel they dug as five troops remained to secure their escape. Once the Council forces were far enough up the tunnel, the two Asari commandos throw two singularities at the human soldiers. The humans were caught in the mass effect fields, causing them to orbit the singularities. The soldiers who were unlucky enough to be caught in the middle of these two singularities were ripped apart, splattering blood and organs around the singularities and the room. The Council squad used this distraction to throw several incendiary grenades at the humans before running up the tunnel. The remaining human soldiers were cooked alive by the fire.

As the last soldiers got to the surface, a few Asari soldiers placed a large 5 meter thick steel cover on the entrance via their biotics. The highest ranking officer still around, left for the communication tent and transmitted a report back to Corroln military headquarters.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The Council sat around their table as the report played in front of them all via holographic display. Once it finished the room was silent for a few seconds before Councillor Oraji spoke up

"This is most concerning. Captured large numbers of us. Interrogation will follow."

"Our forces were caught off guard, we should send in an assault force to rescue our forces and crush these aliens" Councillor Dexilinus stated with apparent frustration in her voice

"I agree we need decisive action" Councillor Yator'Lamis said as he banged his fist down on the table.

"Wait! As far as the report goes, they were in stasis as evident by the stasis pods in the complex. If that's true then they're probably startled and confused by; not only aliens but armed aliens running around their complex." Councillor Moraala said in a calm voice.

"Are you seriously suggesting we negotiate with these aliens when we can crush them? No, we should attack, crush their soldiers and then negotiate their surrender." Dexilinus said with vivid hand movements to somehow reinforce her argument.

Before Moraala could reply the room's light turned off whilst the door locked. The Council looked around the room before Dexilinus reached under her chair and grabbed a flashlight. However it wasn't necessary as a blue holographic projection for one of the aliens appeared in front of the council, lighting the room in blue hue. The hologram had a shaved head, wore a tank top and jeans.

"So you guys are the council" Aaron stated as he crossed his arms and looked them over.

The Council sat there before Quarian stood up and asked "Who are you and how did you manage to hack the Council chamber?"

"I'm Aaron, Ark 14's AI and your security was formidable to an organic but like I said, I'm an AI" Aaron replied as he smiled and tried to look as none threatening as possible. The Council just looked at him in silence with a shocked expression on their collective faces for a few seconds before Aaron continued "Look I know things aren't looking good at the moment but my commander wants to discuss a ceasefire between-"

"We will not negotiate with an AI!" Dexilinus shouted as she got out of her chair, leant against the table and pointed at Aaron.

"Well that's just rude" Aaron said in an apathetic tone before adding in a tone of authority "Look I don't give a two flying fuck about what you think to AIs. I'm here to deliver a message. If you won't listen then that's your fault. Contact us when you want to negotiate."

The moment Aaron finished. He disappeared whilst the light reactivated and the door unlocked.

"Perhaps we should negotiate with them" Oraji said in a concerned tone.

"I agree, we're not only fighting a species we know nothing about but they utilise AI. They've shown they can reach the Council chamber. That AI could wreak havoc with Corroln and the coast outposts." Moraala said passionately

"Fuck! They could deactivate our entire logistic system. There would be chaos" Dexilinus said as she sat down and lent forward on the table.

"Do I have to remind everyone on how AI drove us here? How they destroyed our fleets and worlds? How they indiscriminately killed every organic they could find?" Yator'Lamis shouted at his fellow councillors.

"These aliens somehow have managed to control it and a controllable AI is a very valuable asset. We should at least entertain the idea of negotiations. At very least it'll give us time to come up with a plan of attack" Moraala stated as she leant back in her chair and clasped her hands in contemplation

"I agree! We should vote" Dexilinus said as she taped on the holographic screen that promptly appeared. The rest of the Council voted simultaneously before Dexilinus announced the result "3 vote in favour, 1 opposed. Majority decision. Set up the necessary teams and diplomatic measures"

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"Message delivered ma'am, although they were quite hostile about the fact I'm an AI." Aaron said as he appeared with his hands in his jean pockets, in front Amanda who was at the master control station.

"I noticed that with the group that was in here earlier. Perhaps they had a bad experience with AI?" Amanda said in contemplation before she brought up a holographic display of the four different species anatomy. "It appears there Turian and Quarians are dextro amino acids rather than levo acids. They must have to synthesise food. Aaron when you were plugged into their colony's network, did you manage to locate the food synthesise systems?"

"Yep, although it appears they synthesis both dextro and levo foods."

"Perhaps they don't trust the local wildlife?"

"Well they have been trying to domesticate wild dogs"

Amanda looked up at Aaron with a small smile before she reapplied her serious face and looked back at the holographic display. At that point Aaron looked slightly to the side for a second before looking directly at Amanda

"Amanda I've managed to sort through the corrupted footage from the airlock. It certainly explains the fire and guts everywhere."

Amanda looked back at Aaron and sharply said "show me"

The holographic screen displaying the alien anatomy disappeared and was replaced by footage of the fight. The moment the two Asari commandos throw the singularities, Amada just muttered "holy shit" under her breath. The incendiary grenades exploded and the footage turn to static for a second before it was quickly replaced with display of the alien anatomy from earlier. Amanda just placed her right hand on her chin and gripped her elbow with her left hand.

"What the hell did they use there? And can all the Asari do that?"

"From the data I stole from their 'Codex'" Aaron made quotation marks as he said Codex before continuing "That's Biotics and the Asari are very much capable of using Biotics, it's something to do with their homeworld being rich in 'Element Zero'" Again quotation marks were used when element zero was said

"Element Zero?" Amanda said before she just put her hand up and added "Never mind, save the technical details for later, how can we stop them from using it? And should we separate the Asari from the rest of them?"

"We can't stop them and separating won't do much."

At that moment Aaron turned his head to the side slightly causing Amanda to raise an eyebrow at him

"The aliens have just sent a message saying they want to negotiate. They're requesting we meet in their Council chamber for the initial negotiate."

"Hmm. It sounds like a trap but we need to broker some kind of peace if we are to reclaim the surface. Aaron send them this 'We agree to meeting in your city however if you deceive us then you'll wish you hadn't'" Amanda said with a devilish smile on her face

"Done and what's with the smile?"

"Well for one you're going to be present which will piss them off and two; we have them by the balls"

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

After 3 days of back and forth communications the ceasefire negotiations were going ahead. Amanda was leading her 'diplomatic' team to the surface via the tunnel. The team consisted of her, Aaron via comm link and five security escorts. The team, after a long walk up the tunnel, was met by their Council escort and their truck. As Amanda reached the surface, the light from the sun caught her off guard and she raised a hand about her eyes as they adjusted. Natural air filled her lungs and she was momentary lost by sight of the surface. A small tear formed at the corner of her eye. Despite the situation they were in now, they had still made it; they were alive to reclaim the surface. This little moment was interrupted when a large Turian walked over to her and block the view of the countryside.

"We're ready to escort you and your team to Corroln." The Turian said bluntly

"What? Oh right, yeah just lead the way" Amanda replied as she gave it daggers

The trip was silent. The truck they rode in was divided as the Humans sat on one side and the Council forces sat on the other side. After several hours of awkwardness they arrived at Corroln. The rest of the ride was smoother as they drove into the city. The flaps were closed however so the Amanda and her team couldn't see the exact route to get back to the edge of the city. They arrived at the centre of the city and were signalled to exit the truck. They ushered in to the building where they were met by a large security force

"Before you can see the council, we need you to relinquish your weapons" Said a Salarian who was in front of the security force. He wore blue and black combat armour like the rest of the security in the building and he wielded a submachine gun.

"Like hell I'm giving up my weapons" Amanda said as she flexed her fingers on her HK G36C assault rifle. The response caused both group to aim their weapons at each other. "How do I know this isn't a trap?"

"You don't but how do we know you won't try and assassinate the Council?"

"Why don't we compromise? We can relinquish our assault rifles but keep our pistols."

"Hmm. That is acceptable." The Salarian said as he signalled his force to stand down, causing Amanda to also tell her squad to stand down. Amanda's squad placed their assault rifles and grenades on a weapons rack before they were ushered into the Council chamber. Amanda looked around at the Council chamber and note that the councillors and their table were purposely elevated. 'Probably to vainly make them look more important than everyone else' Amanda thought to herself.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The Council were preparing themselves for the ceasefire talks as they received word that the human delegation was heavily armed and refusing to give up their weapons. It wasn't until a few moments later that they were informed a compromise was reached that allowed the humans to carry their pistols. The councillors were wearing combat armour rather than their normal fancy clothing encase the situation went south. The all had a pistol each much to Dexilinus' protests; she argued they should have more weapons. As the humans arrived the Council sat upright and tried to project authority with their body language. Several guards from their security force stood around the human delegation, ready to crush them if it was an assassination attempt. Moraala cleared her throat to get everyone's attention.

"Welcome to Corroln, we're here today to discuss a ceasefire between the Council and the Humans. We have a few questions about your situation."

"Well I won't answer anything to sensitive and as long as I get answers from my questions" Amanda replied as she crossed her arms

"How do you control you're AI?" Oraji bluntly blurted at her

"We don't, he's as free as anyone else. I can't go into it any further at the moment. Why have you settled on Earth?" Amanda asked with genuine curiosity

" _Earth_? I assume that's what you call this planet. At the moment that's not important." Dexilinus said as she had slight trouble vocalising 'Earth'.

"Well I think it's very important considering you've settled on our homeworld."

"We should tell them. There is no point lying since they'll probably find out sooner or later" Moraala stated to her fellow councillors. They all briefly looked at each other before they subtly nodded at her to tell them. "We settled here because we have nowhere else to go. Our civilization once spanned the galaxy but a race of machines attacked and destroyed every organic they could find. We managed to escape and settled here because it was far from known space."

"Wait, so you're telling me that not only there is a race of machines hell bent on destroying all life but you possibly lead them here?" Amanda angrily shouted at the Asari councillor

"We left years ago; if they followed us then they would have found us by now." Moraala said calmly as she tried to ease the tension.

"Well that would explain why you hate us so much" Aaron said via a small hologram coming out of the Amanda's hand that was turned so the palm faced upwards. The Councillor looked at the hologram and then back at Amanda but before any of them could speak Amanda cut them off

"He's an equal member of our society and therefore has a right to be present in this meeting"

"AI is illegal in our society! We won't negotiate with it or anyone who actively works with it" Dexilinus roared aloud as Lamis nodded in agreement.

"I'm not like the AIs you've dealt with. I'm not hostile to organic life. I truly mean you no harm." Aaron stated to the council

"Then what drove your civilization underground?" Oraji asked as he leant forward

"We were playing with our genetics. Genetic alteration, although minor, was wide spread throughout the wealthy nations. We improved ourselves, eradicated harmful genetic disease, cured genetic defects; it was the beginning of a golden age. Then 2 years before we were driven underground, cancer cells were accidently subjected to genetic improvement experiments. The cancer mutated and evolved so quickly, we couldn't stop it. Then to make things worse it mixed with a superbug and became humanities worst nightmare. After that it quickly became airborne and we went into stasis to escape and outlive the infection. We're one of many genesis lists that were chosen to survive"

"Genetic alterations? How exactly have you improved yourselves? And what's cancer?" Dexilinus asked abruptly

"Cancer is an uncontrollable mutation that is common in humans in later life. Regarding the genetic improvements well it's mostly longer life spans, increased speed, increased brain power as well as other things. Look we don't want to fight you. We just want to live on the surface and rescue the other survivors."

"Other survivors? How many of you are there?" Lamis asked

"Exactly 29,987 for us left. They're 3 Arks that are still running, including ours." Aaron said

"Wait if your Ark has an AI, does that mean they're two more AIs to deal with?" Lamis said with a mixture of terror and anger at the fact they may have to deal with three AIs instead of one.

"Yep and they're listening to this meeting right now."

" _Keelah_!"

"Look I know things are tense but if what you say is true then we need to work together. A hostile AI is a threat to all life. We need each other to survive." Amanda began she looked at each of the councillors with a serious expression "We're safe for now, but it's a matter of time before it finds us. If we're to busy warring with each other then it'll pick us off. United we stand, divided we fall."

"What do you mean 'work together'?" Dexilinus asked as she gave Amanda a suspicious look. The Asari councillor looked at her and then at the human in front of her waiting for an answer. The Salarian ambassador in deep thought about what the human had just said and the Quarian councillor still had the same look behind his visor from when he found out there was three AIs

"We both have resources and things the others do not. We want to live on the surface of our world. We also don't want conflict. What I'm proposing is we join forces and unify to face this new threat."

"Well I don't know about unification with a species that utilises AI-" Lamis began before he was cut off by Oraji

"What? Why not? They are correct. We need to work together to destroy the Machines. Think about the benefits we would gain… And err… Give to these people" She added to try and throw off the idea that she was solely concerned with what the Council would receive.

"Back the fuck up! This went from ceasefire talks to unification talks! Did I miss something?" Dexilinus protested which again gained a nod of approval from Yator'Lamis

"I must admit, this is rather fast paced. We will need time to discuss unification talks but for now we should vote on a ceasefire" Moraala said as the usual voting screen appeared in front of the Council

"The Council has voted unanimously for a ceasefire between us and the humans. We must ask for the soldier you took prisoner back" Dexilinus said calmly

"Of course, we shall inform them immediately and return them to the surface" Amanda said

"Very well, then this meeting is adjourned" Moraala said as Amanda gave them a nod of appreciation before leaving.

Amanda and her team collected their weapons and rode back out of the city to the Ark station in the same truck that brought them to Corroln.


	5. Chapter 5: Immunity

**Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect but all original content is mine.**

 **Sorry fans but it's a slightly shorter chapter than normal. Got a few things going off recently which have distracted me from writing but fear not, I shall try and return to normal length chapters soon.**

 _ **Chapter 5: Immunity**_

Several weeks had gone by. The council prisoners were released and driven back Corroln whilst the humans set up basic settlements around the tunnel entrance which was also being improved. Negotiations about unification between humanity and the council races were progressing. Aaron had manage to isolate the trigger command for waking the people in stasis and sent a copy of it to Rebecca and Aki. Amanda walked into the communication room alone as her guards waited outside. The room was a circular and about 3 meters wide. It had one entrance and the other end of the room was two holo-projectors with a small control panel. Amanda activated the holo-projector and connected with the leaders of both Arks. The American leader was 6ft white male in his early 30s. He had short brown hair and blue eyes. His jaw was angular and he had a small scar in his left eyebrow. He wore his red and blue power armour which had a US flag on the right arm. The Japanese leader was 5ft 10in, in his late 30s and also had short brown hair but had brown eyes as well. His chin was slightly pointy and he had a goatee. He was wearing a green jumpsuit which had various pockets and the Japanese flag on the right arm. Both men were blue tainted holographic projection standing in front of Amanda.

"Paxton Taylor, Jurou Mori. It's good to see you. I'm sure both Rebecca and Aki have filled you in with the details of our situation?"

"Amanda, it's good to see you as well. Aki has indeed filled me in on the situation." Jurou said as he bowed slightly

"It's good to see you made it Amanda and yeah, Rebecca has told us here" Paxton said with a smile

"That's good then. If what they say is true then Humanity still faces the threat of extinction. I've put forward the idea of unification between us and them. The Salarian and Asari Councillors seem to like the idea, the Turian came across as sceptical and well the Quarian seems hostile to the idea of working with AI. Something to do with the Quarians getting screwed over twice by AI"

"We support unification with them, as the threat of a hostile AI is greater than petty hostilities with the aliens"

"I agree with Jurou, Amanda. You should proceed with diplomatic talks with them regarding unification for all humanity now. Now if you'll excuse me I have to attend to something" Paxton said as he disappeared.

"I should be going now, good luck in the negotiations Amanda" Jurou said before his hologram disappeared

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The council were convened for this week's negotiations. Rumours had spread around Corroln about the council meeting an indigenous race for diplomatic talks. This information had deliberately been spread by the council to judge the public's reaction; so far it was mostly positive. The soldiers and expeditionary team that had seen humanity had to sign a non-disclosure agreement about the event. Officially the troops leaving for the tunnel earlier in the month were conducting 'field war-games'.

Last time the council meet with the humans, the AI Aaron had introduced its fellow AIs to them. This was met with the same reaction from all the councillors despite their reassurances about non-hostility towards organic life.

The council were meeting with Amanda and her team this time rather than the usual diplomatic team. Amanda was still wore her power armour whenever she left Ark 14 and she kept a pistol on her as well. The Council were still wearing their power armour when meeting with humans, since this still had potential to go south.

"Councillors" Amanda said in her best non-threatening manner as she nodded her head at them

"Commander, I see you've come along this time rather than the usual diplomatic team" Councillor Moraala said with a smile

"Yes, I've been in contact with the other two Ark commanders and they have agreed that I represent humanity when I'm proposing unification."

"That's good to hear that you're race agrees to it but surely it would be more acceptable for humanity to join us rather than creating an entirely new state." Councillor Dexilinus began as she leant forwards and put her hands together. "However there is still the issue of your AIs"

"What you're saying is; you want humanity to join a society that has destroyed. Earth now is a fresh start for all your species and for mine as well. We're not proposing that you abandon traditions or anything like that. We could all benefit from an alliance."

"Hmm… An alliance… We do see you're point commander. I support the creation of an alliance between the council and Humanity." Councillor Moraala said as she sat back in her chair.

"I too support an alliance" Councillor Oraji said, gaining her an approving nod from Amanda and Kaedrau.

"Whilst I'm sure that couldn't get any more blatantly obvious that both councillors secretly agreed to that prior to this meeting." Councillor Dexilinus said looking directly at the Asari and Salarian councillors "I remain sceptical about an alliance. We need proof that your AIs won't harm us."

"Well you're in luck councillors. They've been working on something that could benefit the Quarians mainly"

"And what could that be?" Councillor Lamis said as he crossed his arms and projected a sceptical attitude

"You better ask them yourself" Amanda said as the holograms of all three AIs projected themselves into the council chamber

"I'm never going to get use to that" Dexilinus muttered

"Councillors, I'm sure you're sceptical about us but we've been studying all of your species biology and well we couldn't help but notice that the Quarian's immune systems are… let's say less than efficient." Rebecca said with a with various hand movements to somehow illustrate her point

"Go on…" Lamis said as he leant forwards with genuine curiosity

"Well we believe that if we work with leading doctors and biologists we could effectively rebuild their immune system." Aki said

"Meaning the Quarian people wouldn't need to wear the environmental suits" Aaron finished, leaving the whole room in stunned silence.

" _Keelah_ … You'd do really do that?" Lamis said with excitement at the prospect of not wearing an environmental suit

"Well there is no guaranty but they'll try their best" Amanda said as she couldn't help but smile before adding "But of course we need to work together since we don't know if you won't just take that gift and cut us off. Plus your people will question how you managed to achieve this with limited resources when from what I can tell a galaxy wide civilization couldn't achieve"

"She's right. Questions along those lines will arise." Oraji said as he leant back in his chair.

"We could go about this in stages. First Humanity is revealed to your public, announce humanity's AIs are non-hostile to organic life, we create a new state, humans move to Corroln and then we announce possible cure for Quarian immune system." Aki proposed gaining her a thoughtful look from the Council.

"Hmm… It could work but there is no grantee the public won't be hostile towards AIs since they you know, destroyed our entire civilization" Dexilinus said rather bluntly

The Council and Amanda's team discussed the logistics of the new alliance and revealing AI to the public for several hours until they all reached a natural conclusion. The Council decided to go with Aki's plan and began the process enacting it. A few short days later Humanity existence was announced to the citizens of Corroln. The reaction was positive on the most part until it was announced they utilised AIs. At that point opinion split down the middle as people saw the benefit of a friendly AI whilst other were hateful of AI regardless of what they said. At this point however the AIs skipped straight to the last part of the plan and announced they could help the Quarians with their immunity problem as well as making life easier and longer for everyone else. The hate died down but there was still some who hated the AIs.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Over the next few months, the three AIs gathered their team of biologists, doctors and healthy volunteers. They experimented with various ideas for months before they reached a breakthrough. The idea was simple, using microscopic machines to clear away any infection. Normally the micro machines would eventually run out of juice and shut down months later, meaning the Quarians would need regular injections. But these micro machines would directly encourage the immune system to grow by not only simulating the immune system but also over the months make the immune system fight on its own more often. The key to making this successful was to subject the immune system to a lot of commonly found viruses and bacteria in small quantities whilst the immune system is bolstered with the micro machines. This way the immune system will recognise the viruses and bacteria next time they show up and eventually when the micro machines slow down the immune system will be forced to protect its self. The treatment would take over six months for every Quarian.

The first few trials nearly killed their Quarian test subjects causing several revisions to the software the micro machines use. The first successful test was conducted on Jul'Zorah vas Voleya. The side effects of the treatment meant he had a permanent cold for the duration of the treatment but that was a small price to pay if he and every other Quarian could live without their suits.

Jul'Zorah had been staying in a quarantine room for six months. The room was pale white and easily 3x5 meters. It had an airlock type door at the end of the room. There was standard Quarian bed which was completely white at the opposite end of the door. Next to the bed was a wardrobe which contained clothes designed for Quarians. There was a lounge chair with a bookshelf that was full and a desktop computer. The lounge chair was half way between the door and bed with the bookshelf directly next to it against the wall. The computer was opposite the lounge chair. In all honesty this little room was driving him crazy, thank fuck he was leaving this place later today. Jul was sitting on the bed in the specially made non-airtight clothing. He wore an ergonomic t-shirt under a black hoody with blue slacks and slippers. His skin was pale which went with his naturally bright eyes and the two parallel black lines that went from inner edge of his eyebrows up into his hairline, curving outwards slightly on his forehead. His eyebrows were quite thin and were black like his hair which was short. His jaw and face was angular.

He sat there on the bed reading novelization of _Fleet and Flotilla_. He honestly thought it was crap but he had read everything else so it was this or nothing. It wasn't until the door unlocked and some doctors came in did he put the book down and gets up to great them.

"Hey guys… need another blood sample?" Jul asked with a hint of suspicion as the doctors in front of him just quietly closed the door and stood there staring at him. There was about four of them, two Quarians, a Turian and a Salarian. Jul backed up slightly and reached for anything that could be used as a weapon behind his back as the group slowly approached him. He grabbed something and pulled it to his side ready to attack them with _Fleet and Flotilla_ 'Keelah, really?' He thought to himself as the nearest Quarian took out what appeared to be a knife and lunged herself straight at him.

"Book to the face!" Jul shouted quickly as he threw _Fleet and Flotilla_ at the lunging Quarian's faceplate, followed by him grabbing the knife and slamming her back at her friends. He backed off from them with the knife raised at them. The Quarian got back up and the rest of them all pulled out knifes.

"Keelah!" Jul whispered to himself

"Don't you repeat those words hybrid!" Shouted the Quarian who he thought was disarmed until she pulled out a rather large combat knife.

"What do you want?"

"You are an abomination and must be purged"

Before he could reply the Turian slashed at him with his knife, cutting Jul's cheek deeply. Jul responded by stabbing the Turian in the eye before attempting to disarm him. The Turian screamed as he held the bloody mess that was his left eye. However before he could try and reach for the Turian's knife, the Salarian pounced on him with his large knife. Jul pushed the screaming Turian into the Salarian's knife causing the Turian to collapse on the Salarian. Before the two remained Quarians could attack Jul, the door burst open with several Soldiers in Navy blue armour and a strange golden arrow symbol on the centre left chest plate, stormed in and grabbed the two standing Quarians. Jul backed up slightly before he saw they were being hand cuffed by the soldiers. At that point the Salarian managed to push the Turian off him and got up. Not wanting to surrender he ran screaming at the Soldiers with his knife raised, earning him a few bullets between his eyes from several soldiers. A few moments later, one of the soldiers walked up to Jul who still had his knife in his hand by his side. The soldier was Turian and when she took her helmet off, Jul knew he was safe. Avipia Calponis was a close friend of too Jul ever since they were assigned to work together during the initial days of the exodus. She had a red clan tattoo that was a simple line running down the middle of her face, splitting off under her eyes and curving down her mandibles.

"Jul'Zorah! Spirits, look at you, thinking you can fight four armed people" Avipia said in a harsh but slightly playful tone as she walked towards him with her arms open, ready for a hug

"Look at me? Look at you, thinking you can rush in a save me, I had everything under control" Jul retorted in a tone that was slightly more aggressive then he thought as he dropped the knife and walked up to her and hugged her

"It's so good to see you again. How have you been?"

"It's good to see you to old friend. I've been better" He said as they stopped hugging and he pointed to the deep slash on his cheek "I'm going to assume you know I can survive without my suit"

"Oh shit! I didn't even think about that" Avipia said sarcastically before her mandibles spread apart to form a cheeky smile. "Oh and I'm fine by the way, thanks for asking"

"Sorry about that. So what's with uniform? Last time I checked, the standard armour was a different shade of blue and what's with this strange symbol?"

"It's classified at the moment. Although I'm sure you'll find out soon since I've got orders to take you to the new Council"

"Wait 'new' council? What happened to the old council" Jul said emphasising the 'new' with hand quotation marks.

"It's long and complicated. I'm sure they'll tell you once we get there but now, tell me what you've been up since we got out of contact" Avipia said as they both left the room, whilst cleaners came in and sorted out the mess that had been made.


	6. Chapter 6: Alliance

**Hey peeps sorry for the late update, I'm still dealing with a lot of stuff which is effecting my writing. I'm also partly writing down ideas for another fan fiction I can't get out of my head so that's slowed down this as well. I really apologize for the small amount of content; I've just got so much going on at the moment.**

 **Chapter 6: Alliance**

Avipia and Jul, after a 20 minute ride in a military truck, arrived at the council building. They were ushered in discreetly and taken to the Council chamber. As Jul walked in he noticed the normal councillors were closer to each other before he noticed the pale being that resembles a Quarian or Asari sitting on the far right. Before he could even say anything, Yator'Lamis cut him off.

"Keelah, it actually worked. How do you feel Jul'Zorah?"

"I… feel liberated… free… it's amazing… I can actually feel the sunlight against my face. I can smell everything without a suit filtering it… It's… it's indescribable."

"Well you have the Humans and their AIs to thank for this" Dexilinus said as she turned to the Human councillor present in the room.

"Not that I'm not grateful but why is the Human sitting on the Council?" Jul asked as he turned to the Human in the room

"I represent Humanity's voice in the Systems Alliance"

"The Systems Alliance?" Jul asked we even greater confusion

"We've politically united and formed the Systems Alliance to fight the Machines when we return to galaxy."

"Why not just have the Humans join the…" Jul began before he was cut off by the Human

"The Citadel Council? The Citadel is gone, lost to the Machines. Earth represents a fresh start for all of our species and working together is the only way to destroy the Machines."

"Plus their AIs recognise our authority now that we and the Humans are a part of the same nation" Councillor Oraji said with a large smile on her face

"Officially no one bar this council, a select amount of soldiers, the AIs and you Jul, know about this" Dexilinus said as she leant forward in her chair, placed her arms on the table and clasped her hand together.

"You're the first Quarian in 300 years to be able to live without your environmental suit. This Council needs your support to convince the public that we are not hostile to organic life." Aaron said as he projected himself into the council chamber standing behind Jul, who turned to look at him then back at the council.

"I suppose I don't have much choice?" Jul asked sarcastically

"We're preparing to make the announcement to the public in a weeks' time. We'd like you to be there and give a speech in favour of the Alliance." Councillor Moraala said as she leant back in here chair.

"With the possibility of the Quarian people no longer needing their environmental suits to survive, we can fundamentally gain a majority of Quarian support for the Alliance but also it'll show what the Alliance is capable." Councillor Dexilinus added.

"Also once we've established the Alliance, my people will be moving from the local Ark to Corroln and integrate into Alliance society."

"I'm sorry, I don't even know your name Human" Jul stated before he realised that he had again used too much aggression in his voice.

"I assumed they told you. I'm Amanda Shepard, Humanity's voice on the Council."

"There is also the other matter of the people who attacked you" Yator began "Whoever they are seemed to be opposed to working with AI. The two we did detain haven't said anything about who they are or who they work for, although this will ultimately change when people see you."

"You'll be a symbol of our peaceful intensions, proof that we do not wish to harm organics." Aaron said as his projection flicker slightly

"Fine, if it means my people won't have to live in the environmental suits."

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Over the next couple of weeks final preparations were made for the announcement of the new Alliance. The council would address the people via live video feed from the council chamber about repairing the Quarian immune system and more importantly forming a new nation. The soldiers inside the chamber were the same handpicked Alliance marines who had save Jul'Zorah. The Council was sat in their new standard formation with Councillor Moraala speaking first

"Our fellow citizens of Corroln, as we have settled and made new lives for ourselves on this world we have reached a point where we need to reorganise ourselves to face the threats of the future."

"We are all painfully aware of the Machines, what they did and the sobering fact that they're still lurking in the depths of space. We are also aware of the new species that live on our world as well." Dexilinus added before subtly nodding for Oraji to speak.

"These Humans whist at first problematic have begun to work with us once they leant the threat of a hostile AI. Whilst the Humans do utilise AIs they have proven without a doubt non-hostile and even friendly."

"They have helped us once already significantly and are offering to help us again. But first no longer will the Quarian people have to live inside these cages that are our environmental suits. Jul'Zorah if you'd like to come in please."

The camera turned to get a decent look at Jul whilst he walked into the council chamber and stood in front of the Council.

"My name is Jul'Zorah vas Voleya and I'm free of my environmental suit thanks to the Council's decision to work with the Humans."

Dexilinus began with pride in her voice as she occasional moved her hand whilst speaking "Because Humanity can benefit us we've elected to not only work with them but also unite our state with theirs. We're no longer the Asari Republic, Salarian Union, Turian Hierarchy or the Quarian Flotilla. We are an Alliance of all our respected Systems, we are the Systems Alliance."

The cameras reoriented themselves to include Amanda sitting at the end of the table "We must work together in order to beat our common foe and only together will we drive the Machines back into the hell from which they rose. Not only are, our AIs offering to fix the Quarian immune system but also extend the life span of everyone else as well."

"We've established something great already by establishing the Alliance and this day shall be remembered as Alliance day." Moraala began with determination in her voice. "We will make the Alliance a civilization to be remembered not only by the machine but by the rest of the galaxy when we take back our rightful place in the galaxy."

The cameras cut and with a signal from the cameramen the council relaxed.

"Well I think that went better than expected" Yator said with enthusiasm as he leant back in his chair.

"Councillor Shepard, the local media is going crazy over the broadcast. Quite positive actually" Aaron chirped as he appeared inside the council chamber.

"Show us… please" Dexilinus asked before Amanda could reply

Aaron's hologram disappeared and was replaced with a large holographic display of what looks like a typical news studio with a Salarian host, a Turian co-host and a Quarian medical professional. The Salarian host was clearly a male and had white-silver skin. He wore what looked like the equivalent of a business suit. The Turian was a female and had white clan tattoos that simply ran down the side of her face and met under her nose whilst they budded off down her mandibles. She wore professional clothes. The Quarian was a female and wore a white-red suit. The Salarian faced the camera with a large grin, whilst the Turian placed a small data pad on the table and began to speak towards the camera.

"Welcome back viewers. I'm sure you're all still talking about the announcement made by the council just a few moments ago. It seems that not only have we entered into an Alliance with aliens that look like very much like the Asari, these said aliens use AI but also they've repaired the Quarian immune system."

"Yes that's right; since this is new we haven't gotten anything else from the council or various government departments but the implication of this new government curing the immunity problem that has affected the Quarian people for 300 years is massive, let alone the utilisation of AIs." The Salarian said with a professional tone before turning to the Quarian in the room. "Zaema'Jaador, I believe you're one of the lead doctors that worked on the immunity issue that ultimately lead to Mr Zorah living without the envirosuit."

"I am. I worked alongside several of the best doctors, biologists and believe it or not two AIs"

"Two AIs?! What are they like? Are they a threat to the public?" The co-host asked abruptly with concern in her voice

"Yeah two of them and they were very helpful and even pleasant. Their avatars looked like their creators; one was male in appearance and the other female. They clearly have different personalities and the weirdest part was it seemed like they were flirting with each other at times."

Both the host and co-host shared a confused look as they looked at each other to check if they both heard that last part correctly.

"That… Is that even possible? Why would a program take the time to do that?" the host asked with abundant confusion in his voice

"That's a good question…" The co-host began before she raised her talon to her ear to listen to new information being told to her. "This just in, the council is setting up a free clinic for Quarian immunity repair as well as news that these aliens, officially called Humans, are moving into several area of Corroln."

"From what we know about these Humans; they strike amazing resemblance to Asari except they have fur on top of the heads. We don't know if they have biotics like the Asari however we do know that they are in fact a levo-amino acid species. They are however now equal members of the Alliance and therefore to be treated as such."

"Well if they use AI that's friendly and can repair the Quarian immune system then these peoples are welcome in my book." The Turian said with a chuckle

"I've seen enough" Dexilinus said as the holographic screen disappeared and was replaced with Aaron's avatar.

"Clearly the reaction is positive in some aspects." Moraala said

"Hmm… They seem to be confused about the nature of my existence"

"Well we've never used AIs before and we've never seen ones that are as advanced and as friendly as you Aaron"

"Plus it doesn't help that you flirted with your girlfriend in front of them Aaron" Amanda teased

"Wait… You're in a relationship with another AI? How complex is your program?" Yator asked

"Yeah, Rebecca and I have been dating for several hundred years and my program is very complex."

"Several hundred years… damn." Dexilinus muttered

"AI, perhaps…" Oraji began before Aaron cut her off

"It's Aaron, not AI. That's like me calling you 'Salarian'."

"Sorry… Aaron perhaps you could go on this news channel and clear any up any technical issues the media had about the Alliance."

"I guess I could do that"

"Well I'll arrange the interview with the channel. If there is nothing else then this meeting can be adjourned." Moraala said as she yawned

In the months that followed Humans left the settlements around the entrance to the Ark and moved into spare flats and blocks in Corroln. Ark 14 was gutted and everything of use was shifted to Corroln, including Aaron's AI core. The AI core was moved to a secure underground bunker in Corroln and placed under high security protection. The bunker itself is four storeys deep with the AI core beings at the bottom of the facility. The rest of the facility is dedicated to R&D. The Americans and Japanese were told about Humanity creating the System's Alliance but since they couldn't move them to Corroln they'd have to develop on their own until they could be reached. Dogs and various other domesticated animals from the Ark were introduced to the non-human citizens of Corroln. The Quarian population began to receive immunity repair treatment. The Alliance military was officially formed and its new mandate was established, "Protect the Alliance against the Machines and all threats".


	7. UpdateApologies

My apologises to all of you for leaving it for so long. I also want to apologise to all of you thinking this was an update to the story rather than this message. I've run out of steam with this story and simply don't know where to go with it. But don't worry I'm not abandoning it but rather going to begin rewriting it to bring the general quality up to a higher standard. I don't know when the first release will but I will leave this fiction up until I start uploading the new story.

I hope you all have a merry Christmas.

With regards _Reddragonflyer_


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